The Hunter's Claws
by King KK IX
Summary: Naruto's one of Orochimaru's experiments, but is deemed a failure and abandoned just before the snake leaves Konoha. When the experiment's wanted results resurface a few years later, it becomes first a curse, but then an asset and blessing. But, what's this about a new Chunin exams and a world far larger than the Elemental Nations? Hunter!Naruto! NarutoxIno!
1. Prologue - The Failed Project

_**The Hunter's Claws**_

_**A Story by Noss**_

_**Prologue - The Failed Project**_

In a dark room built hundreds of feet beneath the surface of the earth stood a man, a look of disdain permanently etched into his features. His yellow, slitted eyes glared hatefully, disgusted at the sight before him. The monitor beeped steadily, indicating the change, or rather lack thereof, in the makeup of the subject. He'd had high hopes for the young blond child, but all of his plans, tests, preparations, all of them failed.

And, in his fury with the failed project lying naively before him, the man grew complacent. He had left himself open, and had been found out by his old sensei in his moment of weakness. Hearing the man, along with his squad of Anbu shinobi, heading down the hallway towards the room he currently found himself in, the man preformed a rapid set of handsigns, placing a glowing finger against the blonde child's forhead.

This technique would wipe the memory of the blonde child, while simultaneously transporting him back to his small, rundown apartment. Honestly, he truly didn't know where he'd gone wrong with this experiment, all of the calculations he'd done, all of the measures he'd taken to ensure success, and yet somehow, everything had gone wrong. Just as the boy disappeared from the room, transported away from the underground base, the Sandaime Hokage and his squad of Anbu burst through the heavily reinforced door at the other end of the room.

The man chuckled; his yellow eyes the only part of his body to move as they took in the sight of the angry Hokage and his slightly shivering minions. They were... disgusting. And so, he spoke, the mirth in his voice clearly apparent, yet overshadowed by his loathing and hate for the man before him.

"Hello... sensei."


	2. Chapter I - Project X

_**The Hunter's Claws**_

_**A Story by Noss**_

_**Chapter I - Project X**_

_(Three Years and a few Months Later, the day of Naruto's eighth birthday - One of Konoha's back alleys)_

"Gotcha' now, ya lil' shit!" The drunken slur, mixed in with the rancid smell of the man's breath, laced with alcohol and (though the boy didn't know what the smell was at the time) sex, made for an intimidating figure in the eyes of the eight year old blonde. And that wasn't counting the man's height and muscle mass. That just made him even more terrifying.

The heavily scarred man, marked as a Chunin of Konoha by the headband proudly displayed on his right bicep and the flak jacket he wore, pulled out a wicked looking wakizashi with serrated edges.

The man grinned wickedly, the blade of the wakizashi lighting up with a wavering red glow as he channeled his fire natured chakra through it. The blade whistled and sang through the air as it descended towards the screaming boy, his cries suffocated by the gag firmly stuffed in between his teeth.

His cerulean blue eyes shut themselves tight, tears leaking past the corners in a constant stream as he cried, cried for the life he'd never have and for the life he never had.

He had only been on the earth for eight years, to the day; his life couldn't be over yet! He hadn't proven to the world that he was the strongest! He hadn't become the Hokage and gained everyone's recognition and respect. He hadn't had a family yet. He hadn't loved, or been loved!

Why! Why was it always hate that seemed to follow him like an endless plague, destroying his spirit piece by piece! Why did his life have to end like this?

Why!

A tingling sensation found its way into the boy's despaired thought, as if someone was tickling his brain with a feather. In an instant, that tingling sensation spread all over his body and then concentrated itself on his right shoulder. There was a sickening, suction-like _Plop!_ and a horrendous _ripping_ noise before...

_Skreeeee- crck!_

Beautiful blue eyes opened in shock, while ugly brown ones widened in disbelief.

Jutting from the eight year old's shoulder was a sheet of glistening metal, no more than half and inch thick and an inch long. It jutted out far enough that when the boy turned his head, the tip made contact with his chin. His eyes wandering farther down, they widened even further as he took note of the long, spider-webbing crack that made its way down the length of the single-handed blade.

"N-nani?" The man stumbled back in shock, but his demeanor quickly changed from surprised to absolutely furious. His voice dropped an entire decibel in level as he laced chakra through his vocal chords, a subconscious intimidation tactic.

_**"I dunno' what the hell you did, bakemono-gaki, but I'm gonna' kill you, and I'm gonna' make it slow and painful."**_ The blonde shivered in terror at the killing intent radiating off of the man in front of him, and something connected in his subconscious in that moment, something that can only come from the mind of a child in absolute terror and intense trauma.

Weird metal powers = _**bad**_.

Though the man was killed by the Anbu operative before he could reach the boy, though he hadn't actually been physically harmed by the man, the damage was done.

Naruto was terrified of his new power.

As he lay in bed that night, looking out of his cracked window at the stars glistening in the inky black sky, Naruto made a vow to himself.

He would find out what this power was, and he would destroy it. This curse would never make another person angry ever again!

_**An:**_ So I decided to post the prologue and the first chapter of The Hunter's Claws at the same time because both of them were so short. Don't worry my future chapters will be far longer, the first two were just setting up the story. I know this may not seem like a Hunter x Hunter/Naruto X-over, but I'm going to get there by, maybe, chapter 4 or 5. And for those who can guess what combination of powers make up Naruto's new 'kekkei genkai', you get a shout out! (Yeah, I know, but what else can I honestly give you over fanfiction?) Reviews are appreciated, and will probably spur me to put out chapters more quickly. I'll try (emphasis on _**try**_) to get out chapters once a week, but I do have a life (pfft, yeah right!), so don't hate on me if the chapters aren't always on time. Oh, and I'm writing this literally spur-of-the-moment, as in I have no idea where this is going, so if I'm ever hit with a bout of writer's block, that may come in the way as well.


	3. Chapter II - The Adamantine Skill Pulse

_**The Hunter's Claws**_

_**A Story by Noss**_

_**Chapter II - The Adamantine Skill Pulse**_

_(Three Years Later - Classified Shinobi Files Chamber)_

Small, slender fingers flicked rapidly through the cream colored files lining the wall, cerulean blue eyes taking note of the only the first few letter of each file.

_'Om, Om, Om... On... Oo... Op...Or!'_

The fingers twitched in anticipation, eyes glinting in shadows cast by the high shelves. However, before continuing their hunt, the fingers stopped as the figure closed his eyes, listening to the soft pattering of footsteps as they patrolled the rows of shelves.

_'Good, none of them have strayed from the pattern. I have another minute and forty three seconds,'_ His eyes opened, focusing once more on the files before him. _'Ora... Orb... no, a little farther... there! Oro!_ His fingers moved more quickly through the many files before finally coming to an abrupt halt.

_'Yes!'_

The figure pulled out the file, slipping it into his opened jacket before zipping it closed, easily hiding the files presence under the jacket's bulk. The figure took a deep breath before an irritated frown crossed his face, a bored look making its way into his eyes. He waited for a few seconds, timing it perfectly before he turned to his left and took three steps forward, exiting the 'O' isle and stepping directly into the path of a patrolling Chunin Kunoichi.

"Oof!"

The eleven year old boy tumbled to the side, landing heavily on his rear with a groan. Rubbing it in a futile attempt to relieve the soreness, the blonde looked up with a sheepish grin on his face as he rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"Gomen, I didn't see you there, ya know?" The Kunoichi blinked in shock before raising an eyebrow at the orange-clad boy sitting in front of her.

"What are you doing here Naruto-san, this area is off-limits." Naruto grinned, he knew the Kunoichi patrolling this section of the chamber was only partial to him, unlike most of the others in the village.

"Gomen Ami-chan, I was looking for Sarutobi-jiji, but he wasn't in his office, so I went to look for him, but I got lost and now I have no idea where I am!" He looked up at her, his eyes shining, "Did you know that the Hokage Tower was this big? I didn't, but it must be mega-huge to have so many rooms that I got lost!" The young woman shook her head at the excitable child, an exasperated smile playing at her lips. While in reality Naruto was grinning in excitement at the awesomeness of his village's Hokage and the building he worked in, his inner mind was an entirely different story.

There, he was cackling like a madman, a terrifying grin exposing his brilliant white teeth.

_'Yes, she fell for my idiot mask perfectly! I really am brilliant, aren't I. I truly picked the perfect time of day to plan my heist. Jiji always takes half-an-hour in the washroom right about now to read those Icha-Icha books of his, and one of the few shinobi who get assigned to this job, at this specific time of day, is one who doesn't hate me like everyone else seems to!'_ He paused in his thoughts for a moment to stroke his metaphorical chin, _'Hm... I guess I'll have to look into that as well. Their hatred makes absolutely no sense! Well, unless of course my parents did something absolutely horrible... but jiji said they were good people! Hm, that's another thing to look into... gah, damnit Naruto, focus! One thing at a time, stupid brain...'_

Naruto was successfully led out of the room by Ami, got into an argument with teh Sarutobi patriarch about his academy grades, study habits and his pranking, and then headed to the dingy apartment that had been his home since he was four years old.

He entered, going about his daily ritual of yelling out 'I'm home!', and receiving the same lack of response, just as every day before had given him. Banishing his depressed mood with a steaming cup of instant ramen, Naruto hung his orange jacket over the back of the only chair he owned, leaving him in only a white wife-beater and his baggy orange pants, having taken off his standard blue shinobi sandals at the door.

Then, he pulled out the file he'd taken from the chambers, opening it and spreading out its contents over the small round table. Scribbled across the cream folder in black kanji was the word 'Orochimaru'. The man's file was thick due to it having a lot of content, and it took Naruto a while of sifting through papers that were meaningless to him before he finally came upon what he was looking for.

The stack of papers held together by a paper clip looked to be slightly newer than the rest of the pages, and were written in very clear handwriting that Naruto recognized as the Hokage's. These files held detailed descriptions of everything that the Hokage and (apparently) a squad of Anbu had found in one of Orochimaru's bases, hidden over one hundred feet beneath Konoha. One of these papers held information on a bloodline that Orochimaru had attempted to create in a young child, four years of age, by mixing two other bloodlines together.

One of these bloodlines was clearly detailed as the _Shikotsumyaku_, or the _Dead Bone Pulse_, something that Naruto had previous suspicions of.

Ever since Naruto had activated his 'curse', he'd been obsessed with destroying it. However, if he wanted to do that, then he needed to know what it was. For two years he conducted his research without yielding a single result, but he was determined to destroy this abomination, so he never gave up trying.

And, finally, he found a lead. There was a small book on clans from the Clan Wars era that Naruto had found in the library after sneaking in one night. In it was a vague exerpt on a clan of bloodthirsty warriors, a clan who, every once in a while birthed a child with a different body structure. These people could control their skeletal structure at will to kill their opponenets.

This ability to wield bones by ejecting them from the skin and then regrowing them resembled what Naruto had done on that night tw years before, where a plate of metal had ejected itself from his shoulder.

Using his new lead, Naruto researched everything he could on the Kaguya clan and their recessive bloodline. He learned that they were a clan from Kirigakure no Sato, and had been slaughtered in the bloodline rebellions that were currently taking place in Water Country.

And then he came upon a picture of Kimimaro Kaguya in a bingo book that he'd stolen from a drunked shinobi. Apparently, the boy was a member of a group that called themselves the 'Sound Five', that were Orochimaru's strongest fighters in the new village he'd founded, Otogakure no Sato.

That then led Naruto to where he was now, looking up the Snake Sannin's files to try and find out what his curse was.

As his eyes ventured farther down the page, his eyebrows rose higher and higher towards his hairline. Apparently, Orochimaru had attempted to combine the DNA of this last Kaguya member with some unknown bloodline he'd gotten from somewhere outside of the Elemental Countries. Apparently, the man he'd stolen the DNA sample from had tried to kill Orochimaru, and was able to create metal blade-like claws that protruded from between his knuckles.

On top of that, Orochimaru had recorded a detailed description of the man and the rest of his abilities, which seemed to be incredible regeneration abilities, stamina and physical prowess.

After that, however, there was nothing. The Anbu weren't able to find the body of the child Orochimaru had operated on, and Orochimaru himself had recorded the experiment as a failure, the kekkei genkai he'd been hoping to create never activating in the child.

By now, Naruto was frowning. One, the experiment had obviously worked, as he seemed to have this new 'kekkei genkai', and two, Naruto's thoughts of this power being a 'curse' for the past three years had just been shattered.

First of all, even Orochimaru, the man who had tried to create this power, had designnated it as a new kekkei genkia, and two, kekkei genkai were most definitely not curses.

Unless, of course, you lived in Kirigakure, but he didn't. Heck, Konoha pretty much _revered_ kekkei genkia, the stupid Sasuke-teme could attest to that, as well as the wierd white-eyed freaks with ten-foot poles shoved up their arses.

With shaking hands, Naruto put all of the papers back into the folder and threw his now-empty cup of ramen into the trashbin on the other side of the room. Robotically, he took off his wife-beater and his orange pants, leaving him in a pair of blue boxers with stylised bowls of ramen all over them. He put on his nightcap, slid the folder between his matress and his bedframe, and lay down on his lumpy bed.

For hours he stared at the ceiling, his entire world having been flipped upside-down at the revelation of his metal powers being an... asset... instead of a curse. Without his drive to find a way to destroy the 'curse', what did he have? Sure, his mask wanted to become Hokage, but did he, his true self, really want that? Yes... he supposed he did, but for different reasons entirely. He didn't really _have_ to be the Hokage to achieve what he wanted, but any Kage is generally recognized as the strongest in the village.

_'But, do I have to be the Hokage, to be the strongest? No... no I don't. I just have to be recognized as the strongest. Hm... but how can I do that? Even in his old age, jiji is still really powerful, I can tell. How will I get stronger than that?'_

Naruto pondered on that for a while, before coming to a descision that (to him, at least) seemed almost worse than the revelation of his new kekkei genkai.

_'Actually, that would probably help as well. Kekkei genkai are supposed to be pretty damn powerful, right? So if mine's a combination of _two_ kekkei genkai, then it should be really powerful! Oh... and it should probably have a name too. I remember the bone ability of the Kaguya clan was called the Shikotsumyaku, but I don't think the other one had a name? Wait! Wasn't the metal used really special, though? Ah, what was it called... aha! Adamtin, that was i-... no, hold up. That doesn't sound right. Admatin? No, maybe it was Admnteen? Not quite... gah! What the hell was the damn metal cal- oh! That's it! Adamantine! So, if Shi-kotsu-myaku is literally death-skill-pulse, then maybe... Adamantine-skill-pulse? Kongou-kotsu-myaku. Kongoukotsumyaku. Kongoukotsumyaku! Hell yeah! That sounds totally badass, ya know!_

He seemed happy with that, until his thoughts wandered back to where they had been before, and he groaned.

_'Maaaan, even if it started as a mask, paying attention in class is gonna be a bitch! Especially since I can't just make a spontaneous change from idiot-jokester to guy-who's-actually-trying-in-school. Everyone would get really suspicious.'_

The blonde finally closed his eyes, a small smile playing at his lips as he mentally prepared himself for the change he'd be putting himself through.

_'Just watch, jiji, I'll make you proud! I'll become the strongest shinobi in the world, ya know!'_

His smile slowly morphed into a grin, a genuine one, not like the idiotic ones he'd show in public. However, his last thought before falling asleep wiped the grin from his face, leaving him half-frowning, half-pouting throughout the night.

_'Damn, all this thinking is gonna' leave me with the mother-of-all-headaches tomorrow morning,'_


End file.
